AI Summary
5 min readAnne Applebaum: Globalized MAGA Kleptocracy
Anne Applebaum has been radicalized by architecture. The Pulitzer-winning historian and Atlantic staff writer told Tim Miller on The Bulwark Daily that watching President Trump build a massive new ballroom next to the White House—a structure meant to evoke "Republican smaller Republican virtues" and Palladian balance—crossed a line. "By destroying it, by building a monstrosity next door to it, Donald Trump has changed its meaning and changed the way it looks," she said. That ballroom is a small piece of a much larger pattern she traces in her October cover story "Empire of Grift": the Trump administration is not isolationist but rather building a globalized MAGA kleptocracy, one that blends far-right ideology with private-sector profit-seeking in ways that are transforming American foreign policy.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (01:58) **Introduction: Anne Applebaum returns** - Tim Miller welcomes Anne Applebaum to discuss her Atlantic cover story "Empire of Grift" and the globalized MAGA kleptocracy.
- 2 (02:12) **The Battle Over Washington's Architecture** - Applebaum explains her radicalization over Trump's changes to D.C.'s classical design, including the White House ballroom.
- 3 (05:42) **Defining the Globalized MAGA Grift** - Applebaum frames the Trump administration's foreign policy as a revolutionary, internationalist project, not isolationist.
- 4 (08:57) **The Contradiction of "Globalist Nationalism"** - Applebaum explains how the administration uses traditional American soft-power tools for MAGA ends.
- 5 (11:53) **Greenland: A Case Study in Imperialist Corruption** - Applebaum details how private Trump-connected businesspeople are de facto carrying out U.S. foreign policy in Greenland.
- 6 (15:01) **The Crypto-Backed Network State** - Applebaum ties the Greenland project to a broader tech-oligarch vision.
- 7 (16:27) **Undermining Brazil: The Bolsonaro Project** - Applebaum explains how the Trump administration used tariffs, visa sanctions, and other levers to help Bolsonaro's son return to power.
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Guests on this episode
Show Notes
In Greenland, the Trump administration has got tech bros and hedge fund guys running an influence operation there. The aim may be to fulfill Trump's territorial ambitions—or to create a sovereign state run by CEOs. In Venezuela, the administration is imperialistically seizing its gold, oil and other assets with no oversight. And in Brazil, the White House is trying to bring the Bolsonaro family back to power—which may or may not have something to do with Elon being angry about the country's tech regulation laws. In Trump 2.0, informal envoys, private companies, and hardened ideologues are turning American diplomacy upside down. Plus: Putin has played Kushner like a fiddle, don't let the story of Don Jr.'s Russian gangster-funded wedding die, new additions to the Applebaum book club, and we're going to have to bulldoze the ballroom.
Anne Applebaum joins Tim Miller for the weekend pod.
show notes:
- Anne’s Atlantic cover story, “Empire of Grift”
- “Whistler: A Novel,” Anne's latest book recommendation
- Tim’s book recommendation, “The Disappearers: A Novel”
- The Bulwark’s campaign to help the Haitian community of Springfield
- The Bulwark store
- Tim’s playlist
- Closing song - War on Drugs - “Suffering”
- Try ZipRecruiter to post your job FOR FREE at http://ziprecruiter.com/BULWARK
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